


you are the one thing that i got right (it's a fickle world)

by bloodsparks



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Dean Winchester Takes Care of Sam Winchester, Gen, Growing Up, John Winchester's A+ Parenting, Metafiction, Mother Hen Dean
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-03
Updated: 2017-10-03
Packaged: 2019-01-08 12:51:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12254751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bloodsparks/pseuds/bloodsparks
Summary: Dean maintains he isn't good with children, and yet everything he's done for his brother and stepson would prove otherwise. A metafiction piece.





	you are the one thing that i got right (it's a fickle world)

Dean Winchester maintains that he isn’t good with children. 

Sure, he’s had to take care of Sammy, but that was when he was five years old, and it was nothing. He was terrible at changing nappies, which always made John mad when he came home from a hunt to find the baby crying and with a dirty diaper.

_“It’s just a diaper, Dean!” John would growl, tired and bruised from whatever ghoul or ghost he’d encountered._

_Dean would nod, solemn as he shoved his crayons off the table so John wouldn’t see what he’d been doing instead of caring for Sam like he was supposed to._

Over time, Dean learned. Colouring wasn’t as important as making sure Sammy was healthy and happy, smiling up at the baby mobile hanging over his crib. By six and a half, Dean could change Sammy’s nappy better than John. 

And sure, maybe Dean was good with making meals for the two of them, even in dusty motel kitchens. But mac-n’-cheese on the regular couldn’t have been healthy, especially with the amount of ketchup Sam liked mixed in. 

They played games, too, but not ones that would’ve made a kindergarten teacher proud. Instead of snakes and ladders, Dean taught Sam blackjack and childish forms of poker. At first he got into the habit of letting his younger brother win, but soon Sam had the upper hand without Dean giving it to him. 

_(“You sure you wanna bet all your marshmallows, Sammy?”  
_ _“Yup. Even if you get ‘em, dad’ll bring more when he gets back.”)_

Motel rooms didn’t have many forms of entertainment besides the movie channel that played crappy spy movies on repeat, and Sam had a short attention span.

Once or twice, they snuck out of the room to play hide and seek around the parking lot and the lobby, but Dean tripped on the gravel and cut his knee up pretty bad. Despite his insistence that they could keep on going, Sam cried and pulled him back to the room where he washed and bandaged it up. After that, Sam refused to play anything that involved going outside. 

Sammy’s first day of school was terrifying for Dean. Like a worried mom, he made sure Sam’s pencils were sharpened and he had lunch packed as well as spare change.

Dean didn’t usually go to school; he had to stay with Sam to look after him. But now that Sam was enrolling at the nearest elementary school, Dean figured he could try it out too, just to see what it was like. 

After that, school became part of a routine. John was reluctant at first, but after much begging and puppy-eyes from Sam, it was decided that they would be allowed to go under the promise that Dean bring a knife hidden in his bag in case anything were to happen due to him and Sam being a hunter’s children. 

Most importantly, Dean was to look out for Sam. Check on him between classes, scare off any potential bullies, make sure he got his lunch every day, and help him with his homework. Sort of what he’d been doing all along anyway. 

They switched schools fairly often with John having a new case waiting for him every three to four weeks. Sam hated it, but Dean loved it. He got to reinvent himself every time. 

In Iowa, he was Dean Winchester, the teacher’s pet. In Minnesota, he was a rebel famous for yelling hilarious but crude phrases every football game. In New York he was the jock all the girls wanted to be with and the all the guys wanted to be. It was fun, to say the least. 

And in looking after Sam, Dean sometimes tended to look after Sam’s friends, too. He drove them to the library, picked up snacks for times when Sam went over to someone’s house for video games and homework, and of course, waited outside the house the whole time. Dean listened to disputes on _Dungeons & Dragons_ and horrible pop music, endured healthy food that Sam brought home, and all the while watched his little Sammy grow up. 

Dean supposes it’s this experience and process that comes in handy twenty-something years later when he becomes involved with Ben Braeden. It’s surprisingly easy to take care of the kid, mostly because he’s more like Dean than Sam was.

They listen to AC/DC and Led Zeppelin while playing Mario Kart in the lounge, and Dean shows Ben how to take apart and reassemble a stereo set so it plays in higher resolution. 

It’s the best year of his life, if he’s being honest. Holding Ben’s hand instead of a gun, tucking him into bed instead of salting the door. 

Sometimes, Lisa catches Dean watching Ben with tears in his eyes. When asked about it, Dean hugs her tight and thanks her for allowing him into her home; for allowing him a chance to heal. 

_It’s incredibly freeing, Dean finds, to be an actual parent and not a sibling masquerading as one. The weight on his shoulders is a welcome one._

Dean Winchester maintains that he isn’t good with children, but he was good enough for Sam, and he is good enough for Ben. And that’s all that matters. 

**Author's Note:**

> writing this gave me so many feels y'all


End file.
